Marked Increase in Avidity of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies 7–8 Months After Infection Is Not Diminished in Old Age
Daniel Pichler, Matthias R. Baumgartner, Janine Kimpel, Annika Rössler, Lydia Riepler, Katie Bates, Verena Fleischer, Dorotheé von Laer, Wegene Borena, Reinhard Würzner
Abstract
The kinetics of immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity maturation during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection obtained from 217 participants of the Ischgl cohort, Austria, was studied 0.5-1.5 months (baseline) and 7-8 months (follow-up) after infection. The IgG avidity assay, using a modified IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and 5.5 M urea, revealed that old age does not diminish the increase in avidity, detected in all participants positive at both time points, from 18% to 42%. High avidity was associated with a marked residual neutralization capacity in 97.2.% of participants (211/217), which was even higher in the older age group, revealing an important role of avidity assays as easy and cheap surrogate tests for assessing the maturation of the immune system conveying potential protection against further SARS-CoV-2 infections without necessitating expensive and laborious neutralization assays.